


I Hear the Walls Repeating (sounds like drumming)

by annaaperson



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson), Happy Ending, M/M, Not Canon Compliant - The Trials of Apollo, Prophecy, Protective Nico di Angelo, Quests, Tartarus (Percy Jackson) - Freeform, Will is a Mess, duh - Freeform, im not that evil, no beta we die like men, will angst, will solace in tartarus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:14:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27792874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annaaperson/pseuds/annaaperson
Summary: The goddess Peitho has long been mad at Apollo. She was the goddess of seduction and persuasion yet Apollo stole the limelight from her again and again. She was going to rip Apollo apart. And all she needed for her plan was a child, a cashed in favor, and a small trip down to Hadestown.(aka the Will solo in Tartarus fic that no one asked for yet I am providing)
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 143
Kudos: 155





	1. Prologue: Will is capital c Confused (Will)

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is basically just a prologue thingy, I have more written out and enough ideas for a lifetime but just haven't sat down to write it yet. 
> 
> This is going to be a fic told with multiple perspectives, mainly Will in Tartarus and Nico trying to save him with occasional pov's from others. In this fic, the trials of Apollo never happened. Apollo got off scotch free and that's really what drives the major conflict in this fic. This chapter is Will getting down to Tartarus. Next chapter is going to be Camp/Nicos reaction 
> 
> Hope you enjoy :)

The goddess Peitho has long been mad at Apollo. Yet hearing that he broke a major rule set by Zeus, the king of gods himself, and received practically no punishment? That was the last straw. She was the goddess of seduction and persuasion yet Apollo stole the limelight from her again and again. She was soon to fade, everyone was to forget that she even existed. She wouldn’t let that happen. So she formed a plan. She was too weak to go after the god himself. He had a seat on a throne. She couldn’t remember the last time she was even invited to Olympus. So she picked an easier target. After all, the people you love most getting hurt is more painful than taking the hurt yourself. She was going to rip Apollo apart. And all she needed for her plan was a child, a cashed in favor, and a small trip down to Hadestown. 

~

Will honestly wasn’t sure what was happening. He was getting off of a double shift in the infirmary, (not the best plan he had to admit) and was in the process of stumbling to his cabin, the moon still high in the sky and not a single soul around him when suddenly everything went black. 

But he didn’t pass out, or black out. It was almost as if he was in a trance, and while the world around him was black, unmoving and bland, he himself was not. So his mind was fully activated and ready to freak out. 

Great. 

His first thought was that one of the harpies attacked him. He had been out past curfew after all. But that was quickly ruled out. Chiron _always_ called them off around shift changes, and even if Chiron somehow forgot, they were warned not to go after the medics anyway. 

And, now that he thought about it, even as tired as he was he should’ve been able to spot the harpy. They weren’t exactly hard to miss. Even if his fighting skills weren’t… the best. 

So. He was almost positive that what had him wasn’t a harpy. That just left the question of what the _hell_ had kidnapped him. 

They had to be powerful. Even if he wasn’t the best trained demigod, he still had reflexes and skills that helped keep him alive. To not notice something ready to kidnap him and put him in a trance, it would have to exceed his skills by tons. 

And the trance. Not just anything could put him in that powerful of a trance. He hadn’t seen or heard of anything like it, even with all of his medical mystical research. 

(He was certain he wasn’t poisoned. He only ever ate the camp food and he hadn’t felt anything injected into him throughout the day. And no poison was described as putting someone in a blank trance. There was always something or someone else there. Not nothing. In Will’s opinion, the nothingness was worse.)

Whatever had him was powerful and surely didn’t take him for nothing. The circumstances were too specific for that. After going over the information, he concluded that he wasn’t really sure if he wanted to know what had him. 

So, of course, as if compelled by the thought, the trance wore away and left him in the real world.

But not _his_ real world.

The first thing he registered was numbing coldness, sinking into his bones. 

The next thing he noticed was the smell of death clogging his pores.

Then the aching of despair that seemed to be clawing at his feet.

The Underworld. He had been taken to the Underworld. 

Will wasn’t quite sure if he was breathing. _This couldn’t be happening._ Why was he taken to the Underworld? Did he die? For some reason he couldn’t help but think the answer to that was ‘no’, and that thought scared him even more. Didn’t Hades have a policy against mortals or demigods _alive_ in the Underworld? Was the god himself about to come along and punish him himself? What was happening? 

His thoughts were nearing a crescendo of panic when he registered the being next to him.

And by registered, he meant the creatures’ sharp hands were now clutching the front of his shirt and his right shoulder and were forcibly pushing him backwards. He tried to speak but found that he could not, whether because of shock or because of a spell the goddess had cast on him, he couldn’t tell. 

Because if one thing was for sure, the being holding him was definitely a goddess. She held herself in the arrogant way most gods had, and if that didn’t fully tip him off, the way that her skin seemed to be shifting skin tones and hair styles would definitely sound some alarms. If Will wasn’t the gayest guy he knew or, yknow, wasn’t kidnapped and taken to the Underworld to be slowly backed up to who knows where as the piercing grip stung into his skin by said goddess, he would probably be attracted to her.

She was the textbook definition of beauty, if by beauty you meant straight sexual desire. Even as she slowly shifted through skin tones and appearances, each one was not lacking. 

Though even as she obviously had power, Will couldn’t help but think that she looked… weak. While he was aware that minor gods could appear weaker than the major ones, the ones he had seen hadn’t looked anywhere near as bad as her. She seemed to be almost translucent at times, as if her body was slowly decaying. And while she obviously held power, it seemed as if putting him in a trance had definitely taken its toll on the goddess.

Could Will heal a goddess? It wasn’t a question he had ever thought about before. He always assumed the gods themselves would never need his help, but maybe this goddess couldn’t find Apollo or Asclepius? But if Will was brought to the Underworld to heal the goddess, what would happen if he failed? 

_CRACK!_

Will was ripped abruptly from his thoughts by terror seeping into his bones as his feet scrambled to find purchase. 

It became quickly apparent that the answer to where Will was going was a godsdamned cliff. His feet scrambled to stay on top of solid ground and he cursed his entire existence for wearing flip flops. The ground he was on wasn’t stable and kept crumbling but he couldn’t find enough traction to stop frantically moving his feet. Though the terror of _I’m going to fall_ somewhat receded as he wasn’t pushed backward anymore, it still was strong, suffocating him.

“Do you know who I am?” The words were spoken with force, demanding an answer. But Will’s body was stuck frozen in fear. “ _Do you?_ ” Her threat was punctuated as she pushed him just an inch but it felt like a foot. 

The ice seemingly cracked around him as the terror of what was gonna happen if he didn’t answer struck through him. He shook his head frantically, barely noticing as tears were flung off his face. He hadn’t even known he was crying. 

She scoffed, but it sounded more like a threat than a harmless gesture. “Of course you wouldn’t.” There seemed to be a fire burning in her ever-changing eyes. “I am Peitho. Goddess of seduction and persuasion. Yet your _father_ ,” She spat the word as if it were a curse, and the feeling of dread in Will’s stomach doubled, “always seems to take that title. No one remembers I exist. _Apollo_ is recounted as the great seducer of people. Even by my mother Aphrodite herself.” The fire only seemed to grow as she continued. 

Will had to admit, being forgotten by your mother did have to hurt. But many demigods suffered through that fate before the 1st war. For some reason, he didn’t think bringing this up to said goddess would go well. 

This goddess had clearly planned… whatever this was herself, searching for vengeance through the pain of an innocent person. Because Will had no control over who his father was. Hell, he wasn’t even sure if his father remembered his name or his existence. 

He felt hopeless. He shouldn’t have to pay because his father stole attention.

“Do you know what happens when a god is forgotten, demigod?” There was clear emphasis put on god and demigod, as if she was insinuating the fact that he was lesser than her. 

He shook his head to the question. He didn’t want to be pushed further off the cliff.

“When a god is forgotten, by all mortals, demigods and other gods, they fade away into non-existence.” Her tone was filled with false cheeriness as the fire seemed to spark in her eyes. “Do you know what that feels like? To know that your existence was being slowly forgotten and one day you just know that you’re about to fade away? And then, of course, Apollo waltzes by, another girl hanging off of his arm and is praised for his _charm_.” Her words slowly devolved into a low growl as the anger rolled off of her in waves. “ _That_ , young demigod, is why I knew I had to go forth with my plan. Your father escaping without punishment for breaking a major rule set by Zeus himself was just the final straw.” 

Her eyes seemed to darken as a smile graced her face. It looked more predatory than peaceful. 

“Do you know what is down below you, young demigod?” And with those few words, Will felt his veins turn to ice. There were only a few places in the Underworld that she could be referring to. None of them were very pleasant but the one that came to mi-. 

Nope. He absolutely was not going to think about that. For all he knows this could just be some crazy hallucination caused by lack of sleep. And he would wake up to Nico yelling at him for overexerting himself and he would finally just take some time to relax and everything was gonna be okay.

“Why, it’s a hole straight to Tartarus.” 

Nothing was okay.

The sense of dread was no longer just in his veins, but was practically encompassing his entire being. There was no calm, no eye of the storm that normally came out during stressful times. Because if he was dropped down there he would die. 

Wait. He would _die_. 

_This goddess wouldn’t be able to go through with her plan_. Will felt his mood lift into a certain giddiness that is unique to specific death situations. Because Will was already weaker than your average demigod, and he couldn’t remember the last time he ate a full meal or slept the recommended amount of sleep. If he even survived the fall, he wouldn’t survive the journey out. He was bound to die, and with his death would come revenge. Nico would avenge him and probably be able to summon him at any time as well. The goddess’s plans would be ruined. 

“You’re going to push me in there, aren’t you?” With his revelation he no longer could feel that sense of dread weighing him down. He finally understood how all of the heroes made witty sarcastic comebacks during battle. You just had to accept your death. 

The goddess smirked. “Oh, finally found your words did you? And look at you, already guessing where I’m going with this. Guess you aren’t as dumb as you appear.”

“I hope you know I’m going to die down there.” The words were said blankly, no emotion present. What a sight he must make. A disheveled teen wearing a torn orange shirt and shorts, flip flops scrambling to take hold of the edge of a rocky cliff while held in place by a goddess, his blond hair wild and unkempt while he could feel a few bruises blossoming from where the journey down here must’ve been rough. He looked like he had no business stating such things in front of the goddess that practically held his life in his hands. But he raised his chin and there was no tremor in his words as he stared her down. He could feel his face turning up in a smirk. “And when I do, you will have to face the wrath of Nico di Angelo. Son of Hades. The Ghost King. And he will get his vengeance.” 

The goddess had no idea what was coming for her.

But the goddess didn’t show any of the reactions Will expected. No sputtering, no confusion, no second guessing. 

She only laughed. “Oh you naïve little demigod. Do you think I would be that dumb and let you die down there?” Will’s heart seemed to stop. “You will acclaim injury after injury. You will be starved. You will be dehydrated. You will bleed and bleed and bleed. You will be broken beyond belief both mentally and physically. But you will not die. You will suffer, son of Apollo. Because everyone knows that life is worse than death.”

No. _No_. Nonononono. This couldn’t be happening. He _had_ to die. He had seen what had happened to people who went through Tartarus, the toll it had taken on their minds. 

Nico barely escaped alive and only was able to get through because he had nothing weighing him down, truly didn’t care for his life and was able to push himself beyond belief because of it. He brought company to misery and survived through the worst. Percy and Annabeth only escaped because of Nico’s conversations and the fact that they had each other. 

They had chosen their route and they used each other to climb out. They had all come back haunted with more than just fears. They all relied on each other to travel the tricky road that was recovery and made it out on the other side okay. 

But Will wasn’t as strong as them. He’d be lucky if he even stumbled in the direction of the exit. If there was even an exit anymore. He was going to get stuck down there for weeks or months or maybe even years. Who knows if anyone would even know where he’d gone? Would his siblings be mourning him when in actuality he was just suffering where they couldn’t see? 

He didn’t see the goddess smile as she saw the terror on his face. He didn’t feel her hands moving to get a better grip. He didn’t notice that his feet were just barely on the clifftop. But it was impossible not to notice what she said next.

“Goodbye young demigod. Tartarus welcomes you.” 

And with a strong push to the chest, Will was falling down down down, deep into the abyss.


	2. Nico would Really Like his memory to start existing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something about Camp Half-Blood seemed… _off_ this morning. 
> 
> If only Nico could figure out why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Camp/Nico perspective time! This is a bit shorter than the last chapter, but I should have the next chapter with the prophecy in it out sooner rather than later.
> 
> (This is also somewhat due to the fact that my brother tested positive so I have to quarantine for two weeks trying to avoid getting it from him myself so)
> 
> We got a little of the boy big three kid dynamic, cause let's be real, Hazel's probably chilling at Camp Jupiter while Thalia is having fun helping run a child-but-also-really-not-child army. This is kinda a transition chapter, but I promise it's worth reading. Hope y'all enjoy!

Something about Camp Half-Blood seemed… _off_ this morning. 

No one said anything or labeled any reasons, but it was unanimously felt by everyone there. There was no evidence to suggest that something,,, or _anything_ out of the ordinary happened, but no one could shake the feeling that there was some unnamed element missing. 

“Hey man.” Jason sat down at the Hades table, completely ignoring the dramatic sigh Chiron let out. It was no secret that the old centaur really didn’t mind if they sat together, but appearances had to be kept up somehow. “Kinda surprised to see you awake this early.”

Nico shrugged, pushing his fruit from one side of the plate to the other. For some reason he felt as if whatever was affecting camp had a bigger effect on him, but he couldn’t remember _why_. It was bothering him a lot more than he’d like to admit. 

“I’m kinda surprised too. I was planning on staying up last night for something, I don't remember exactly what, but I ended up passing out and waking at what you would call a decent time I suppose.” 

While neither Jason or Nico spoke aloud, it was in a shared look that they both seemed to find something weird with that statement. For Nico to just forget what he was staying up for and fall asleep was not a normal occurrence. 

(Nico was very meticulous about reminders ever since he remembered about his dip in the river Lethe and transitioned into normal life at camp. Sticky notes plagued the inside of his cabin, some with only a few words, others with sketches of people he didn’t want to forget. He made himself reminders about _everything_. Even if it was as small as what he planned to do before bed)

Matching up his sudden lack of reminders with the uneasiness that was surrounding the camp,, Nico wasn’t sure how much of his neglected fruit he would end up eating and Jason didn’t look like he would be doing much better.

They were drawn out of their thoughts when Percy sat down next to Jason with pancakes stacked up high on his plate. (At that point, Chiron just threw up his hands and clomped his way to the other side of the pavilion) They were already drowned in syrup and Percy looked about two seconds from demolishing them before he looked up confused at the two seated with him. 

“Uh, is there some prophecy I don’t know about? I mean, Annabeth told me I could sleep through _anything_ , but if none of you guys thought to wake me for that, I’m going to be very sad.” Almost immediately the tension broke as both Jason and Nico rolled their eyes and started their customary bickering.

From then on, it seemed as if it was just any old breakfast. Percy and Jason got into a big fight about the best kind of pancake that Nico adamantly refused to join in on. That ultimately only stopped when Percy accidentally launched his plate and almost hit Kayla and Austin from the Apollo cabin as they were exiting the dining pavilion. Percy had sheepishly looked away before slowly picking up the plate and ignoring the glares that several of the cleaning harpies were giving him. 

The peacefulness from Percy only lasted a few minutes before he was reminded of yet another topic he disagreed with Jason on. Nico only rolled his eyes at the two. They sure could be incredibly big idiots when they weren’t out saving the world. Nico was kind of grateful for their company, though. It was almost as if it was just a regular day.

But, of course, it wasn’t.

Because all of a sudden Austin from the Apollo cabin was sprinting into the dining pavilion with a crazed determination in his eyes and everything turned upside down. “Will!” he shouted, and suddenly everything quieted down. No one seemed to know what was going on. “Will, we- we, Will!” He seemed almost delirious and Nico was kinda thinking about slowly escorting the guy to the hidden spot by the lava wall when suddenly Kayla was skidding to a stop right next to him holding-

“Is she holding the infirmary schedule?” Nico whispered to Jason and Percy. They both looked at him confused as Austin continued to blabber and Kayla was catching her breath. 

“How do you know that?”

It was Nico's turn to be confused and eyebrows furrowed. “I...I don't know.”

Before he could ponder that too much, it seemed as if Kayla could finally say what she and Austin ran here for. “Will Solace!” She practically yelled. Everyone froze, tensing. It seemed as if Kayla was holding back tears. “We forgot Will existed.” And with those simple words, chaos broke loose. 

Almost immediately the entire Apollo cabin was brought to tears, memories of their older brother flowing back into their minds, the older ones staring into space, disgusted at the mere thought that they could have _forgotten_ their _brother_. 

The Ares cabin had all produced weapons out of nowhere that were getting sharpened on anything they could get their hands on. Clarisse was particularly forceful, anger flooding her movement. The Athena cabin seemed to be making plans of what they would need to study, words like "curse" and "memory" plaguing their speech the most. The Hecate cabin moved closer to the Athena kids, while a sibling or two tried to comfort Lou Ellen, who didn't seem to acknowledge them at all. The rest of the cabins seemed to be discussing their own theories, though the Hermes kids seemed to be trying to get Cecil out of his trance by waving a suddenly appearing flamethrower under his nose.

And Nico. Nico froze, memories of Will, memories of his boyfriend flowing through his mind at a rapid pace. Nico was staying up last night for _Will_ , waiting until he got off from the infirmary so he could force him to take care of himself. And yet he forgot all of that.

Nico quickly fought himself to get off of that train of thought. That would get him nowhere. There was no way that everyone just collectively managed to forget Will existed. There had to be another force in play. He wouldn’t just _forget_ Will. 

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehehe, yes I really went there. Like I said before, next chapter should have the prophecy. We've gotta give Will time to fall after all. 
> 
> Also! The amount of comments really motivated me to get this posted, so thank y'all for that. I tend to not reply the fast cause I've got a horrible memory and normally end up reading the email reminder and then forgetting to reply until I'm about to post the next chapter. But I appreciate every single comment I get, I love y'all!


	3. Nico wants to laugh (or cry)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chiron stood before them in centaur form, Rachel still clad in her school uniform standing beside him. It had been a few hours since Austin and Kayla had reminded the camp of Will.
> 
> Nico couldn't wait to see how this turned out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Longer than the last update! Yay!
> 
> I'm probably gonna edit this later cause my friends wanted me to play dead by daylight with them but I really wanted to update for y'all. I chekced grammar once but I probably missed a few small things, sorry!
> 
> But! We get a prophecy bois!! It's not the best, but hey, it works. Hope y'all enjoy!

“Everyone, silence.” The chatter surrounding the amphitheater immediately died down as Chiron stood before them in centaur form, Rachel still clad in her school uniform standing beside him. It had been a few hours since Austin and Kayla had reminded the camp of Will, and everything had yet to calm down. 

The Apollo cabin was insatiable, breaking into tears every couple of minutes and never leaving each other's side. Chiron had organized for several groups to explore around to see if anyone could spot any signs of Will in the camp or the areas surrounding but no one had found even a twig out of place. 

Nico himself had scoured the area, even going as far as to search for his soul, but he still came up empty. He reassured himself that he would’ve felt if Will had died with how closely connected their souls were. He had to be _somewhere_ , he just wasn’t near Camp Half-Blood. 

“I know that the revelation that today brought has been hard on many of you. But this is not a random occurrence. This had to be a curse placed by a god or goddess on the camp, albeit a small one. And while the whereabouts of Will are not certain, we have good reason to believe he is not dead.” Nico could almost feel the bitter laughter that wanted to take control of him at the words. What a world they lived in where ‘not dead’ was considered a blessing. 

“Has anyone contacted Camp Jupiter?”

“I have.” Jason stood up, his presence a comforting one next to Nico. “They have reported nothing out of the ordinary, no sense of something weird and they have triple checked their attendance but everything seems to be in order. Hazel tried to soul search for Will to see if he ended up somewhere on the west coast but reported that she felt nothing.” With his message done, Jason sat back down heavily, his hands clasped between his legs. 

Nico knew he was probably beating himself up about not being able to find anything. Even if he and Will were not that close, to have someone taken under their noses like this and find nothing was devastating. 

Chiron nodded in acknowledgement. “Well, once again that does not mean he is dead. He could very well be in Europe for all we know. Now, when was the last time Will was spotted?” Chirons voice brought silence, save for the sobbing of the Apollo cabin and the steady scrape of the Ares cabin who decided to resharpen all of the weapons the camp had. For no reason obviously. 

The semi-silence was deafening. 

Nico debated his options before slowly standing up. He ignored how badly his entire body wanted to shake and forced himself to still with the ease that only came after years of practice. They deserved to know.

“I think he was supposed to meet with me after his shift last night.” His words were strong as his body felt like it was dying. 

(As soon as he got his wits about him and finished searching the woods for Will, he stopped by at his cabin to find more post it notes. Dozens of pictures of Will, all in their correct place when Nico knows they weren't there when he woke up. It was unsettling to say the least. And he found his plans for the night. Coincidentally. Obviously.)

“Will was pulling a double shift in the infirmary. He should have gotten off around 2 am.” None of this was new information. Chiron was aware of the schedule and they had already gone over this information almost as soon as they figured out they had forgotten Will. But Nico needed something, _anything_ to precede what he was about to say. He ignored how his hands were slowly losing their grip and shaking ever so slightly. 

“I was supposed to meet him when his shift ended.” He said it. No ability to take it back now. But he was the reason that Will was gone. And they deserved to know. “I _should_ have been awake.” Silence. Oh, how he _hated_ silence. “I remember putting my shoes on at 1:50. After that I remember nothing. I didnt recall that memory until after we all remembered.” _Him_ was left unspoken. He didn’t need to say it. They all knew.

Nico sat back down shakily, a fraction of the adrenaline leaving his body as everyone's eyes went back to Chiron. He took a deep breath as he steeled himself. Just because he stayed at camp for a bit didn't mean he went soft. The Ghost King didn't have weaknesses. He would get Will back. No matter the casualties. 

“Thank you, Nico”

Nico nodded. He ignored the feeling of the pitying eyes on him. It didn’t matter if people saw that it was his fault now. He would get Will back. That’s all that mattered.

“Does anyone else have anything about Will?” Silence. Kayla half stood up before quickly sitting back down. Nico was pretty sure he was the only one who saw, but apparently Chiron had more eyes than accounted for. 

“Miss Knowles? Do you have anything to add?”

Kayla seemed to mumble (or, more likely cursed) under her breath before she stood up, several younger Apollo campers still hanging off of her. “I was gonna say how we think we may know why Will was chosen.”

Once again silence draped over the camp. But this silence was more suffocating. Chirons tail flicked. “Do share, Miss Knowles.”

Kayla's head twitched, but she remained standing. “Will was weak.” Her voice was detached, medical. She wasn't considering emotions, she was being purely analytical. Nico hated it. “He was pulling a double shift. He was alone at the infirmary in the middle of the night. Before, when the infirmary was still in the Big House, it would've been better, but in its new building he was even more isolated. He's a healer, not a fighter. He was most likely hungry and tired. He was a weak point. If anyone wanted to attack the camp and get us on guard and destroy us from the inside, Will was the easiest target to make that happen.” She sat back down. She never flinched, even as the sobbing got louder and the sharpening intensified. 

“Thank you, Miss Knowles.” Chirons voice was impassive, almost optimistic but the flickering of his tail betrayed his true emotions. “Does anyone else ha-” Chiron was suddenly cut off as Rachel began to glow. The green in her eyes seemed to take over the whites and glowed a sickly color. A green mist seemed to swirl itself around her and it almost looked as if it were levitating her. Her hair defying gravity as she spat:

_“A vengeful goddess shall have her wrath  
Throwing a demigod into the depths  
It is not his fault his father has charm  
But the goddess cannot see a path without harm  
The healer shall suffer a fate worse than death  
However he can't die below with the rest  
Trickery and witchcraft paired with the dark  
Do you have the strength to disembark?  
Tartarus is just the beginning of the end  
Before the god’s wrath threatens him again”_

The green mist surrounding Rachel quickly dissipated before she collapsed, passing out, just barely being caught by Chiron. The rest of the camp was shocked into silence, not even the younger campers making a sound. 

A prophecy. Nico almost wanted to laugh. The world's most straightforward and depressing prophecy. He vaguely hoped one of the Athena kids wrote it down but he had a general disconnect from the world. 

A prophecy. Of course. Why not? He wondered if Chrion would consider him too crazy to take the quest if he started laughing. A _prophecy_. About Will. About Will's _fate_. Because of course. Because the fates hated everything good that Nico di Angelo had ever gotten. But they couldn't just punish him, no. They had to punish everything around him. Maria died. Bianca died. And Will?

He slumped forward, his head in his hands, barely registering Jason trying to get his attention. What did it matter? Jason knew he wasn't okay. Nobody was. Jason also would've had to know Nico was taking the quest. He let out a strangled laugh that sounded closer to a sob.

And Will? Will was in _Tartarus_. 

Oh how the fates hated Nico.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehehehe. Yes I am aware that I am evil, but I promise you it'll work out. Next chapter is probably gonna be from Will's perspective so :)))) Hope y'all enjoyed! (Also I love each and every one of you that commented or left kudos, you guys are my heros)


	4. Will's falling down down, in an earlier round, and he's going down swinging

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will was falling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (what do you expect? he's going to Tartarus, it's a long way down)
> 
> Friendly reminder that it canonically takes 9 days to fall down to Tartarus, so it's probably gonna take a bit until it evens out into a will-nico-will-nico chapter pattern. 
> 
> Also this pretty much all takes place in the air so not a lot of Tartarus action, but I promise it's worth the read. We also get some fun Will existential crisis time! Hopefully you guys enjoy!

Will was falling.

Maybe plummeting would be a better word. Did it count as ‘falling’ when you were purposely pushed? Purposely doomed?

He wasn’t sure how long he had been falling. All he knew was that it was reaching Alice in Wonderland levels of insane, except incredibly more disturbing. There were no soft beds floating around to bounce on and soften the blow, or books floating up to his grasp to pass the time. And Will already knew there would be no food for him when ( _if_ , a small part of his brain whispered) he met the ground.

It was weird. Will knew that normally the body would only get the chance to fall for a couple seconds. It took 9 seconds for a penny to fall from the very top of the empire state building. A fall that would kill a person. 

Maybe if he had stayed enrolled in the school system outside of camp past the age of seven, he would’ve been able to figure out if the added weight of his body and the increased air resistance would cancel each other out or not, be able to calculate the speed it would take him to fall from that height. Though he most _definitely_ would’ve ended up going to his small town public school where half the kids didn't show up Monday morning because they were too hung over to drive the couple miles to the school house, so maybe he wouldn’t have known either way. 

None of that changed Will’s perspective. Falling for seemingly an eternity. He was plummeting down. He almost felt like he was falling from space down to earth, burning up while lighting the sky like a morbid shooting star.

But he knew better. He wasn’t going to burn up and fall to earth. He wasn’t failing to his death, he was falling to his pain. He was going to crash onto the floor of Tartarus.

He wondered if Nico felt like this. Hopelessly falling with no end in sight. Maybe Nico thought he had chosen the wrong place to throw himself into. Did he think his dad may have just had a bottomless pit in the Underworld? Was there a bottomless pit in the Underworld? Would he have been able to shadow travel to the bottom? By Will’s accounts there wasn’t a lot of light to see the pit's walls, but maybe continuously falling messed with Nico’s ability to shadow travel since the shadows were constantly zooming past. Will would have to ask him about that once he got out. If, his brain whispered, you get out before he's dead and gone. Who knows? Maybe you're just missing his funeral as you fall helplessly. 

Normally when Will's brain went haywire he was able to do something, anything, Repetitive motions worked best. Organizing the infirmary, doing stock checks, cutting bandages, sterilizing equipment. 

Lee used to play a game with the cabin whenever anybody needed a distraction. There were chords scratched onto the one bare wall of the cabin. The Apollo campers would get into two lines, the front person each armed with a fly swatter while Lee sat awkwardly on a bunk, trying to sit up as much as he could without banging his head on the top bunk and also balancing a guitar on his lap. Lee would play a random chord and the two of them armed with fly swatters would race to the other side of the cabin frantically trying to swat at the right chord. They never counted up points, just continued until they were all too busy laughing or arguing to remember their griefs.

Will never really liked the competition aspect, although he found it funny to watch his siblings competing. He loved the action of trying to find the chord in his mind, relying on old fuzzy memories where the faces were blurred and the sounds fuzzy but the teachings etched into his mind all the same to settle for the right one. 

With only two other members of the cabin, the game got a bit more boring, but Will tried his hardest to bring the same energy Lee had, making a rule that they had to go back to their starting positions before running back and hitting a chord. He switched chords immediately after the right chord was slapped vigorously on the wall, until Kayla was too out of breath from cursing him and Austin was trying to wrench the guitar from his hands. 

The game was stupid and dumb and trivial but it was _theirs_. It made responsibilities disappear and grudges be forgotten. It enhanced the feeling of family, and there was repetition and comfort in the madness. 

But there was no comfort in falling. There was no comfort in knowing his fate. The only repetition was the constant whooshing of air past his ears, but it took to driving him mad instead of calming him. 

Will wasn't naive. Sometimes he wished he was. Naivete was a gift. Optimism was a gift. There was power in looking at the world and only seeing opportunities. Power in being able to go into something blinded and believing the best will come. Sure, there was hurt. But there was such a beautiful hope involved that it seemed to block that pain out. 

There was only pain in pessimism. Seeing the world in pain, and believing nothing could be better. Sure, there was hope and joy when things turned out better for once. But the hope was bitter, poisoned by the negativity surrounding it. Because things going great only went two ways, there would be higher hope for greatness in the future with a bigger disappointment or there would be greater suspicion and the world would only turn a shade darker. 

Will was a pessimist with a smile. He thinks at one time he was an optimist. He also thinks _that_ specific path was tarnished a deep dark red, closed and cut off for a lifetime. 

Maybe that's why Will was chosen. Austin and Kayla, though no advocates for perfect mental health, still had that little bit of untarnished optimism inside them. Will was the one out of the three of them that was most likely to go crazy on his own down there. He was the weakest. He was the poisoned one. 

Maybe in another life, Will would be happy and sunshine. For this lifetime, he could fake it. 

Will wondered how long he had been falling. The continuous sound of wind rushing past him was starting to make him wish for the bottom of the pit to just arrive already. He had half a mind to check if his ears were bleeding, but he didn’t want to mess with his body's balance. Not like he could do much about it anyway. 

Will felt a mad bit of hysteria rise within him. What was his life? How long was he going to be falling? What was he gonna do when he stopped falling? How long until he went crazy? What happened if he went crazy before even reaching the ground? How long until he escaped? What happened if no one even noticed he was gone? What happened if Nico moved on past him? What happened if no one could find him?

Will laughed. It was almost hilarious how horrible his fate was turning out. His body curled in on itself involuntarily and he momentarily forgot how falling felt. What did it matter? He wouldn’t die. 

Then, Will felt something slam into him, overwhelming pain, a scream torn from his throat but lost to the wind, and his vision faded to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!! I wonder what Will hit there at the end, hm. 
> 
> Also, the fly swatter thing I stole from my german class and modified because why not? My german teacher would write vocab words on the board, arm high schoolers with fly swatters, and then split us into two. He would say a definition and we would race and swat at the board and it was a very big competition thing. Also, it was so much better when the people didn't know cause it just turned into them both frantically swatting at every word until one of them was correct. We obviously can't do it anymore cause corona but I miss that game a lot.
> 
> I really hoped you guys enjoyed this one! and not even that much pain! Also, i appreciate every single comment I get from you guys, so thank y'all so much for those ! :)


	5. Nico once again longs to be an inanimate object

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico wasn't exactly sure when he was moved from the campfire tp the Big House. He also wasn't really sure he wanted to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like an hour to spare before missing my self-set deadline! Hopefully y'all like this one, it should be slightly longer than usual. Though I do tend to write longer chapters as time goes on. We're back at camp with Nico and we get some good ol questing debates! Hopefully y'all enjoy!

Nico wasn't sure how long he spent bent over at the campfire.  
  
As far as he knew, he could’ve remained like that for hours. He had no memory of sitting up or rolling over. All he knew was that at some vague point in the future he was moved to the Big House, facing Chiron and Rachel while Lou Ellen, Cecil and Jason stood by him. He slowly zoned back in, becoming more aware of his surroundings as the ringing in his ears slowly decreased. 

He shoved Jason’s arm off of him, ignoring the passive aggressive mumbling that followed it. Jason could deal, as far as Nico was concerned. It probably would have been wise to listen to what Chiron was saying, but Nico had been part of enough informal quests to get the gist. 

Chiron was probably just saying something along the lines of “The prophecy chose you, blah blah, be responsible, don't die, blah blah, something about the gods not actually being that bad despite sending their children on dangerous tasks all the time, blah blah, this is very dangerous, blah blah, use resources well, blah, something about the camp having faith in them to succeed” or something stupid like that. It’s not like it was anything other than common sense.

Maybe it would be useful for Cecil and Lou Ellen, seeing as Nico was pretty sure they had never been on a quest, but everything said was nothing Nico couldn’t have caught them up on. Now that he was thinking about it, he really missed the whole situation where Cecil and Lou Ellen were decided for the quest. To Nico, at least, the two were an obvious choice. The two were Will’s closest friends, but he didn’t know how well the rest of the camp knew that.

Will was popular around camp, but a weird kind of popular. Everyone knew him and most loved him, but he really only saw a lot of people in the infirmary. And Cecil and Lou Ellen loved to avoid the infirmary unless they were seriously injured or needed a place to hide after a _little_ too much mischief. 

Not a lot of people knew Will well enough to see below the surface. But the entire camp knew him enough to mourn him. 

“Nico? Do you understand?” Nico quickly refocused his eyes to the centaur in front of him, ignoring the disapproving look that plagued Chirons face. Chiron could deal. It wasn’t every day that you found out your boyfriend was thrown into Tartarus. 

“Yes” Nico ignored the side glare Jason gave him at the brevity. Even if Nico hadn’t been around Chiron a lot, he thought he deserved to not have to treat him like some big superior. 

“Good. Then you three shall begin your quest in a week's time.”

“What!? The Actual Fu-” 

“- week?! No way-” 

“You can’t be serious! Chi-” 

“-s suffering!” 

“Are you crazy?! You ca-”

Voices rose out and overlapped in outrage as everyone in the room turned in disbelief to Chiron. A week? Was Chiron crazy?? Nico _knew_ what it was like in Tartarus. It wasn't something you could forget. A week was a long time, even longer down _there_. Any time in Tartarus would change a person, and the longer time spent, the worse the effects got. 

Nico was lucky enough to become numb enough to block out the torture around him. He had gotten a little too good at that over the years.

But Will? His sweet, _caring_ Will. Will had a heart too big for his own good. Nico didn’t know if Will could ever stop caring. And in a place like Tartarus? It would only lead to suffering. A suffering so intense Nico wasn’t sure _if_ anyone could handle it.

“Chiron, you can’t be serious.” Jason’s authoritative voice rose above the rest, and everyone quickly quieted down. Sometimes Nico forgot that Jason was raised to be a praetor. It was times like these when he was remembered. Nico was glad Jason had supported him into the Big House. Chiron might’ve been more likely to listen to someone who had experience running a demigod camp. “You cannot possibly believe that we can afford to let Will suffer for a week when we already have a questing group together and are willing to depart?”

“I apologize, Son of Jupiter, but the quest _cannot_ start for another week.” Chiron seemed almost apologetic, but Nico found it more pathetic than emotionally moving. If Chiron _actually_ cared, he would let them go, regardless of what the gods thought. It was the gods' problems that got Will thrown into Tartarus, they shouldn’t have a say in how the quest to save Will went. “However, I am under strict instructions by your very father to delay the quest for a week, so the gods on Olympus can gather more information about the.. _circumstance_ in which Will was taken before sending you off. I am sure Will can last a week on his own.”

Lou Ellen and Cecil immediately started protesting while Nico stared ahead in disbelief. It didn't matter if Will _could_ last another week, he shouldn’t have to. Delaying the quest just seemed like something convenient to the gods, regardless of the effect it had.

“In the meantime,” Chirons voice rose as his back hoofs stomped, quieting the protests of Lou Ellen and Cecil, “The questing group can try and decipher the prophecy and plan on how to get to Tartarus. Feel free to invite anyone who you think may have insight on how to decipher said prophecy. If you need my assistance, I shall be in my office.” Chiron quickly moved away, his swishing tale almost knocking over a vase before Rachel caught it in a move too smooth to be normal. 

Cecil turned back to the rest of the group, his form jittering with energy. “He _can't_ be serious! Who does he think he is?! Wills in _Tartarus_ for god's sake!” He slammed his foot on the floor, once again unsettling the vase that Rachel swooped up with an exasperated sigh. 

“Listen, I don’t like this as much as the next person, but I don’t believe you guys have a choice. I’ve only been shown a few snippets, but I do believe certain gods will be making an appearance at Camp. And I’m pretty sure they hold vital information in regards to getting Will. As much as I’d _love_ to help you guys sneak out the window in the back of the infirmary and distract Chiron for long enough to have you well outside the boundaries of camp by the time he even realizes something is wrong with a few called in favors, I think it’s in Will’s better interest if you guys sit tight for a week.” Rachel gave a small sad half smile and shrug as she set the vase back in its rightful spot. 

A tense silence settled over the group.

“I think Rachels right.”

Nico turned to Jason with bewilderment. “Really Grace? Don’t you realize how incredibly fu-”

Jason held up a hand and Nico sputtered off in disbelief, not bothering to finish his sentence. Jason had never silenced him before. “I’m not saying I like the idea per say, but we do need time before you guys are sent out. You three will need to get adjusted to each other's fighting styles, you’ll need to work on both defensive and offensive strategies. Sending you to retrieve Will from Tartarus early will do no good if one of you gets severely injured too quickly because you guys aren’t used to each other's fighting styles. Plus this prophecy seems pretty straight forward. If we can decipher a majority of it before you guys start on the quest, you won't be left totally in the dark. Metaphorically at least.”

Nico made a face at the words, but he did have to admit that Jason had a point. Lou Ellen and Cecil could work together for pranks, but the three of them never officially trained together. And they couldn't afford any unnecessary setbacks. 

“ _Trickery and witchcraft paired with the dark, Do you have the strength to disembark?_ ” Lou Ellen recited. “Those lines have to be talking about this choice. Are we strong enough to start on our journey even though Chiron explicitly told us to wait?”

Rachel and Jason both frowned at the wording, but it was clear they were contemplating the strength of Lou Ellen's claims. 

“What if that’s not it though?” Nico turned to Cecil in surprise. In all honesty, Nico half thought that the son of Hermes had ditched the group to go steal something to make their journey easier. And while that _might_ have counted as stereotyping, Nico had enough experience with Cecil to know that was probably exactly what he wanted to be doing. “What if those lines are talking about if we have the actual strength required to complete the journey? Theoretically, we could leave at any time, regardless of how well Rachel could get us out of Camp. The real challenge is if we have enough strength to disembark _and_ complete the quest successfully. 

“Thats…” Lou Ellen looked puzzled, in the way she normally looked when she got a few words of a spell wrong and instead of turning Sherman into a pig, he was transformed into a puppy. “That's actually not that bad of an idea. Who knew Cecil could have brain cells?”

The tension in the air dispersed as Cecil and Lou Ellen began bickering and Rachel and Jason started discussing the probability of each interpretation. Nico was content to watch the chaos, feeling slightly calmer than he had been when he first learned of Will’s disappearance. Things were not ‘okay’ by any means, but they had a plan, no matter how rough. Lou Ellen and Cecil were just as dedicated as he was to getting Will back to camp safely. 

Nico cleared his throat and watched as the eyes turned to him.“So it's decided. We’ll start training in the arena right after breakfast tomorrow morning.”

He got a chorus of affirmations and ignored the proud smile Jason threw his way. They all started slowly making their way to the exit of the big house, when the door was thrown open, almost hitting Jason in the face before Rachel pulled him back just in time, slamming into the wall and making the entire house shake. Distantly, Nico was pretty sure he heard the vase from before shatter. 

In the door frame stood Percy, somehow soaking wet, as he breathed heavily and eyed the group warily. 

“Did something happen? Cause I just searched the lake and Will is decisively not there.”  
Nico kind of wished he was the vase.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Percy. Ya gotta love him. Hopefully you guys liked that chapter! Y'all had to have known I had to delay the group somehow. Also! Would you guys prefer if I put the prophecy somewhere in every chapter from now on? I found that sometimes when I was reading fics I preferred to be able to go back to the prophecy to try and decipher it myself but I almost always ended up forgetting what chapter it was in. I would probably just post it at the beginning of every chapter but it's up to you guys.  
> I hope y'all had a good week! I love and appreciate every single one of you that gives kudos or comments, so extra thank you to y'all!


	6. Nico would Really Like his boyfriend back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico was decidedly Not Used to fighting with other people he discovered, Cecil and Lou Ellen's curses backing up this discovery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone wondering about me saying this is gonna be twenty chapters, that is a completely estimated shot in the dark. Basically this story is gonna end when it ends and it will most likely be more than twenty chapters long but I felt bad leaving it as a question mark. Also! If you guys noticed my pseudo schedule, I should've posted yesterday, but I was ultimately too busy and caught up with New Years and my brothers birthday. School will also be returning soon (sadly) so my update day will probably become Saturday or Sunday instead of Friday depending on how much work and effort the lovely american school system decides to demand out of me. 
> 
> Onto the actual story, it's another Nico chapter! Don't worry, we catch up with Will next week and get to see what happened after the end of his chapter. Don't worry, pain is guaranteed. This chapter is partly training partly figuring out the prophecy. There should be a divider loud and clear between the two. Also disclaimer! I have never picked up a sword in my life so the fighting stuff is rather vague and might be completely wrong, oops. I'm gonna stop ranting now, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

“Hey, watch out!” 

The warning from Cecil barely gave Nico enough time to turn and duck from the blast that was directed towards his face, rolling away quickly and standing up with only his reflexes saving him from a sword in the face. He met Jason’s blow with equal force, resisting the urge to smile when Jason stumbled just the slightest bit. 

Nico forgot how much fun sparring could be, especially with other big three kids. Jason and Nico both doubled down on their forces, Nico’s mind running with possibilities of how to get Jason to let up. 

“Fuck!” Cecil’s voice reminded Nico that he wasn’t exactly alone in this fight, that working with teammates was the whole reason for the training. It also gave Jason enough leverage of distraction to push Nico back, almost to the wall of the arena.

Nico cursed, trying to regain ground while scanning the arena for Lou Ellen and Cecil’s forms. Lou Ellen seemed to be holding her ground against Clarisse, her spry form continuously dodging attacks from Clarisse's larger form, occasionally dashing in to swing. Cecil seemed to be doing considerably worse in his fight against Percy. Cecil's sword was closer to Nico than it was to Cecil and it definitely didn’t help that Cecil was sprawled in a helpless position on the ground. 

Nico sighed before doing what any good swordsman would do in his position: immediately go for the kick in the balls. It was a struggle to get his leg high enough ( _fuck off_ Percy, he totally wasn’t that short) while still holding his ground to avoid a sword in the face, but the payoff was worth it. Jason dropped to the ground, giving Nico enough time to dash over to Cecil and start to parry Percy. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Cecil going for his sword and he could only hope that Jason would stay down for long enough for him to be able to grab it. 

Where Nico and Jason were stuck in a standstill, putting equal pressure on each other with matched swords, Nico and Percy were dynamic. They moved throughout the arena, their swords repeatedly crashing as they danced between the other pairs. Nico didn’t have time to scan the arena, too busy attempting to outthink Percy before Percy outhtought him. 

He was saved from the extra thinking by a squeal that was _definitely_ not human and a pig (piglet? Is that the word for a baby pig? Was this a baby pig??) running between Percy and his legs, effectively ending their battle. A short glance to his left side showed Jason and Cecil in a similar state of confusion, Jason seemingly having the upper hand before their match came to an abrupt end. A glance to the right showed Lou Ellen looking somewhat apologetic but much more amused with no Clarisse near her in any way. As if on cue, the pig(?) squealed again. 

“Lou! I thought we decided no magic!” Cecil’s voice broke the silence, but his reprimanding words didn’t match the amused/proud look in his eyes. 

Lou Ellen’s shit eating grin took over her face, before she quickly masked it. “Hey, it’s not my fault it was getting a little boring! Plus, we’ve been at this for _hours_ , at this point we all already know each other’s fighting styles, no real learning is happening and I would much rather start thinking of the prophecy and how to adjust my magic knowledge to help aid us.” Lou Ellen’s words registered in his brain and Nico was once again faced with the severity of their quest. It was easy to pretend, to drift off in the mindset that once he was done with his sparring session, he could just waltz over to the infirmary for a “check-up” and visit Will. “Plus, the Ares cabin won against Hecate last round in capture the flag.” Ah, there was the real reasoning. 

“Lou Ellen’s right,” Jason agreed, finally sheathing his sword. “While it might be good to train more later, for right now it’ll only work against you. We might as well go see how much progress Rachel and her crew made on the prophecy.” 

Percy sighed but moved to step away from Nico, Riptide turning back into a pen. “Okay, but can we at least leave Clarisse like a pig for a little bit? It’s humbling for her.” 

The pig version of Clarisse immediately did a 180 from running around the arena to (somehow, how can something that heavy effectively jump??) knock Percy over and jump onto his sternum, effectively stopping him from moving.

To see the son of Poseidon, defeated by a pig that was also the daughter of Ares probably should’ve been ranked on his Top 10 Weird Things That Being A Demigod Has Subjected Me To list for the week, if his boyfriend being dragged down to Tartarus didn’t already fill up the spots from 1 to 30. 

“Never.. Nevermind,” Percy choked out, struggling to gain leverage against the pig that was death glaring him. “I prefer normal Clarisse.”

~

An entire room in the Big House was dedicated to figuring out prophecies, not that it always was of much help. Books lined the walls, and in the spaces between were various items such as chalkboards or cork boards complete with red string. Nico hadn’t spent much time in the room himself, but it was clearly not designed for the amount of people currently housed within. While Nico initially thought that the lack of activity around the arena was due to the spread of the questing groups plans and delay, looking around the crowded room he sensed that it wasn’t the case. 

Demigods were crammed into practically every part of the room, reading or talking or planning. A mix of Will’s siblings and Athena kids were arguing loudly over where to place string while some Hephaestus kids (Harley and Nyssa maybe?) rushed past the questing group at the door, muttering about some tracking device. A chalkboard across from the doorway had the entire prophecy written out and was being annotated by a mix of Athena and Hecate kids in some sort of color coding system Nico wasn’t sure he would ever understand.Rachel sat in the center of the madness, perched atop a table, seemingly reviewing the work of one of Annabeth’s siblings. Annabeth sat next to Rachel, acting as a pseudo secretary or advisor and seemed to be recording the relevant information. 

Rachel looked much more at home in her paint splattered clothes than her school uniform. Nico had no idea how she managed to just not go to school for a week, but maybe the mist or something covered it up.

There was clearly no room for anyone else in the room. Nico was pretty sure that with a team as big as the one they had, it would’ve been better to just catch up with what was figured out about the prophecy at the end of the week. He was about to suggest to the others that heading back to the arena was probably the smarter choice when Rachel noticed them. 

“Guys! You finally showed up!” Immediately all heads turned towards the doorway and Nico resisted the urge to melt into the shadows. _Remember what’s important,_ Nico told himself. _It won’t be helpful to Will if he’s spending energy worrying about_ you _rather than getting himself out of Tartarus._

A path was formed out of nowhere as demigods already in the room became more condensed and allowed the questing group+Jason and Percy (Clarisse had stalked off to her cabin after being transformed back to herself, muttering about some sort of weapon) to make their way to Rachel before the gap was quickly filled once more and the arguing and chatter that had stopped at their appearance started up again. 

“Nice of you all to finally join us,” Annabeth smirked, Percy greeting her with a quick peck. There was a time where that action would’ve filled Nico with unbridled jealousy, but now he just rolled his eyes and ignored his heart longing for Will. 

“Ew, heteros” Lou Ellen and Cecil deadpanned in unison before turning and giving each other a high five. 

Percy turned towards them and flipped them off with his tongue out while Annabeth and Jason shared a look to the chorus of Lou Ellen and Cecil’s laughter. For a moment, Nico could almost believe that it was a normal day and that they were just goofing off before they would all make their way to the campfire to see what love song was nominated by the Apollo cabin and tweaked to embarrass Will and make Nico whisk them both away to the laughter of their friends. 

“As entertaining as… _that_ is, I think we’ve found something you guys might like concerning y'know _that_.” Rachel's voice interrupted the paradise, bringing them back into the doom of the situation. Rachel pointed towards the annotation board of the prophecy. Nico read it again, the words already lodged into his brain. 

_A vengeful goddess shall have her wrath  
Throwing a demigod into the depths  
It is not his fault his father has charm  
But the goddess cannot see a path without harm  
The healer shall suffer a fate worse than death  
However he can't die below with the rest  
Trickery and witchcraft paired with the dark  
Do you have the strength to disembark?  
Tartarus is just the beginning of the end  
Before the god’s wrath threatens him again_

Rachel barely allowed time for them to read it before she was moving forward with a fast paced recap of their discoveries and theories. “We tried to search for a goddess that we thought would be capable and vengeful enough to do this to Will, but the list got too long so that’s not really a good place to start, though if you wanna look over there to try and knock any off the list, go right ahead.” She pointed towards a corner of the room that held a long scroll and Nico didn’t even want to think about how long that list of names went on. That was almost definitely a dead end. “Next to that scroll is another scroll of pure speculation on goddess’ that would hate Apollo for his charm. We were sorta able to contact Apollo but he wasn't very helpful, as you can probably imagine. He just said that ‘no one would hate him’ so that list is all purely speculation..”

Rachel’s words seemed to be moving faster the longer she went on and Nico hoped that they wouldn’t be expected to memorize all of it. Thoughts of Will kept his brain focused on listening but he couldn’t help how his brain refused to process all of the information. 

“We aren’t really sure what a fate worse than death could be except for maybe torture or something similar? It could also just mean surviving in Tartarus in general obviously.” Nico Percy and Annabeth’s faces all hardened at the talk of Tartarus but Nico pushed the memories out of his mind. Dwelling on that would only bring pain. He needed to be in the _present_ , he needed to focus and save Will. “The prophecy stating outright that he can’t die down there is good, especially since we’re not sure how the regeneration thing will work since the camps defeated Gaea. It does bring into possibility of him being close to death or severely or even permanently injured though, so it’ll be a necessity to have extensive medical care with you guys.”

“You _all_ should brush up on your medical knowledge,” Annabeth interjected smoothly, Rachel nodding along in agreement. “You can’t trust that upon finding Will he will be in the right mindset to guide you guys through medically and there's a chance he won’t be conscious or able to speak. It’s better to prepare for the worst.” Annabeth’s words brought another heavy brick of truth to rest upon Nico’s back, but she was right. They couldn’t rely on Will for medical knowledge. 

“Good point. There’s really no use in spectualting what injuries he could have now, I would save that for when you’re trying to gain medical knowledge. Basic care should be pretty useful but knowing specifics about certain injuries is probably a good idea. Obviously the next line refers to you three and the skills you’ll have to use to retrieve him. I doubt you’ll have to work much on perfecting those.” Dark. Nico could do dark. And he had no doubt that Cecil and Lou Ellen had their areas covered. “Obviously the disembark line is a bit concerning, but we discussed that last night. The extra week delay will give you time to truly prepare and plan. And then…”

Rachel's voice trailed off as she glanced to the prophecy once more. The last two lines were written in a different color and they filled Nico with a different type of dread. 

Rachel cleared her throat before turning back to the group with an uneasy smile. “Those last two lines don’t really concern us for right now. For now, we can focus on narrowing down the list of gods, getting your guys skills into shape, and the necessary supplies you need. Any objections?”

The silence said it all, much to Nico’s annoyance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anyone flips at the hetero comment, I completely headcanon both Percy and Annabeth as not straight and the comment was completely a joke with no hard feelings involved. 
> 
> Welp! The questing group is getting ready! The next chapter with them will (finally) be them leaving, so yay for that! I'm definitely gonna have to be using some more time skips as we get into the story so I'll try my best to not make it confusing. I hope you guys enjoyed the (day late) chapter!
> 
> I absolutely love reading all of your guys comments and it really motivates me, thank you all so much for the support! All kudos and comments are appreciated as always, love you guys!


	7. Tartarus is not a place, it's a fall, duh (Will)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sleep was weird. It should have been paradise, an escape from reality, but it rarely was. 
> 
> ‘Passing out’ did not count as sleep.
> 
> Will preferred passing out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhhh so a couple days late, sorry. turns out watching domestic terrorists run into the capital with guns as you mother insists it was antifa not maga and that the more pressing concern was twitter "violating the first amendment" by banning the president from its privately owned website really kills your motivation, at least for me. but uh normal update day should be switching to saturday or sunday probably depending on the week but no promises (especially if more stupid shit like this happens)
> 
> will angst! like, proper will angst this time. Just your typical fall down into Tartarus with a tiny explanation of where we left will. 
> 
> WARNING: There is some food stuff mentioned that might be triggering for people with EDs. Feel free to skip starting from "If Will thought his hunger was bad" to the next section after the ~. It's not super graphic and it's over pretty quick but just in case. Please do not force yourself to read anything you aren't comfortable with

Sleep was weird. It should have been paradise, an escape from reality, but it rarely was. 

‘Passing out’ did not count as sleep. Will found this out when he was 6. He still wasn’t used to the high-up bed his mom had got for his room, wasn’t used to falling. He certainly wasn't used to the sequence of events that led to him falling off from his high bed and hitting his head on the floor, quickly losing consciousness. 

He didn’t sleep when he passed out. He was simply unconscious. There was no constant dreaming of images he couldn’t quite grasp onto, no disembodied voices telling tales. 

There was only nothingness. 

There was a _difference_ between passing out and sleeping. 

Will preferred passing out. 

He did not prefer waking up from passing out and suddenly feeling like he had dropped into ‘dream territory’ if the visions that happened to take place while he was sleeping could even be counted as dreams. 

He woke up disoriented, pain flooding his senses, light too low to truly see. He could hear whispers, and it was a battle to get his eyes to pry open once more, forgetting when they had shut off from the outside world. 

As his eyes opened, he was faced with the reality that he wasn’t in a dream. 

He was faced with the reality that he was falling, and no amount of jerking was waking him up. 

He was faced with the reality that his entire right shoulder and arm throbbed and his stomach ached and his throat and mouth were dry and grating and painful _and he hadn't reached the bottom of the pit._

Will was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to be this frustrated over _not_ being in Tartarus. That didn’t change the fact that he wanted to scream and thrash and _beg_ to just be on solid ground. 

He didn’t want to be stuck falling helplessly. At least down in Tartarus, he was in charge of his own being. He was in charge of getting himself out. It was his fault if he got injured and his victory if he remained unscathed.

The throbbing in his arm stopped him from going into a childish outbreak. His mind was still fuzzy, but he was almost certain that moving in the air was what caused him to run into the wall and pass out in the first place. He didn’t want a repeat event no matter how badly he wanted to be on the surface. He needed to be conscious when he landed. He had already jeopardized himself by getting injured in the first place, he couldn’t afford anything else. He needed to be able to run, to get away from whatever lurked waiting for him at the entrance to Tartarus. 

Will took a deep breath as he closed his eyes, forcing his anger away. _”It doesn’t matter where it goes as long as it's not here, remember that, okay bud?”_ Lee’s voice echoed in his head. _“We can’t let emotions get in the way of what we do, no matter how serious they are. Healing comes first. We can worry about emotions later.”_

Will opened his eyes once more, his brain going into Healer Mode. His emotions shut off, as he allowed his logical side to flood his brain. 

The facts: He was falling into Tartarus. He would not die in Tartarus. He had been falling long enough to be on his way to dehydration and starvation. He had hurt his right arm/shoulder in some capacity. He could not see the end of the pit getting any closer. He had no idea of any exit out of Tartarus, or even of an exit out of the Underworld. He had a small medic pack with him. It should contain a few gauze rolls and bandages along with a small vial of nectar. There was a chance it held a few drachmas, but Austin was always stealing them for one thing or another. He only had a camp shirt and jeans on. His flip flops were defying physics and still on his feet. 

He was severely underprepared for the road that laid in front of him. 

And with that truly _inspiring_ message, Will closed his eyes and sunk back into the terror and feeling of falling. 

~

Wills internal clock was officially overrun by a mixture of starvation, dehydration, sleep deprivation, and the fact that he had been falling for seemingly an eternity with the pit of Tartarus never seeming to get closer. 

At… _some time_ around when he passed the 3rd abnormally white rock that was sticking out to his left, his hunger became gnawing, clawing at his stomach, searching for any kind of sustenance. Will had to fight himself to not curl up into a ball in pain, in some attempt to just _make it stop_. 

As much as he would’ve liked to curl into a ball and pretend he was anywhere but where he was, he didn’t want a repeat event of running into the wall, no matter how refreshing it was to be unconscious for (what he assumed was) a few hours. 

Turns out, it was a little hard to sleep while also falling into literal hell. 

It certainly didn't help that there was no sun in the Underworld. Sure, it was kind of a given that there would be no sun, but knowing it as a fact and experiencing it were two separate things. 

Normally Will could ‘reset’ his internal clock by simply looking at the sun and _somehow_ knowing what time it was. (It was an Apollo thing. Probably.) 

But there was no sun to look at. 

And there was nothing _comforting_ about the occasional (and the farther he went, more frequent) heat spikes of the Underworld. While the sun felt gentle and familiar, a force supposed to exist, the Underworld heat had no such familiarity. It went from freezing cold to unbearingly hot to jarringly cold again in seconds. If it was possible to get temperamental whiplash, falling to Tartraus would be the place to get it.

Will would’ve loved to say that as a child of Apollo he was less subject to the intensity of the switches in heat. However, it seemed that no one, especially not children of Apollo, were safe from the Underworld's wrath. 

Will wondered what Nico would think of that statement. Seeing as what he’d been through, he’d probably agree.

~

If Will thought his hunger was bad at whatever time before, he was incredibly naive and he _kinda_ wanted to go back in time and punch himself for his ignorance. 

Will was no stranger to hunger. He was no stranger to skipping a few meals while organizing the infirmary, or conveniently being somewhere else or just being lost in a whirlwind of work. He was no stranger to waking up nauseous and hungry and just hoping that it would die down enough so he wouldn't have to run to the bathroom first thing and throw up what little he had in his stomach. 

He was a stranger to starvation. He was a stranger to his body begging for him to curl into a ball and just make it stop while also feeling too weak to even twitch his fingers. He was a stranger to such a deep rooted fatigue that was overridden by a combination of falling and nausea. He had already lost count of the amount of times he had thrown up or dry heaved in an awkward position, by some miracle not getting it on his clothing. 

He wasn’t really aware of the physics of throwing up while also falling at high speeds, but at this point he felt too horrible to care. He would've thought that the worst part of Tartarus was actually in Tartarus. 

He really wasn’t eager to see how it could get worse. 

~

Will was pretty sure that Tartarus could make you go blind. 

Well, maybe not _blind_ per se, but definitely ruin vision. 

Or maybe just make him see hallucinations. 

Or maybe the lack of… everything was getting to his brain.

Because he could have _sworn_ he saw the bottom of the pit getting closer. 

But at this point, he was certain that the bottom of the pit was a myth.

Tartarus wasn’t a place, it was a fall. 

A fall that tested the limits of everything.

So of course it made sense that his vision was failing.

And that the ground still seemed to be approaching despite his swimming unfocused vision. 

He was probably going crazy. Hallucinations of hopefulness were a part of craziness right?

The ground still seemed to be approaching.

Could it be counted as a mirage if he wasn't in a desert and he wasn't hallucinating a pond of water or something?

The ground still seemed to be-

Will’s vision swam as he vaguely registered that maybe he wasn’t seeing things after all.

“Hard c-collision with gro-ound… probable concuss-sion… snap.. snapped leg… bleed-bleeding jaw” Will muttered as his limbs struggled to push into a position as his vision swirled around and his mind screamed medical diagnoses between pain signals. “Fr-fra-fractured arm..” he slurred. “Bust-sted lip… punct…” Will’s consciousness finally faded but his pain-addled brain only saw it as relief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehehe i swear i'm not evil. anyway, wills finally at the bottom of the pit! time to get to the fun stuff. next chapter we should see our questing group off and the chapters should be evening out now or pretty soon. 
> 
> Please leave all the comments and kudos! it really makes my day when you guys tell me what you thought and I love replying to y'all!!


	8. Nico should maybe consider other people

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So…” Cecil’s voice was absurdly loud in the Hades cabin and Nico kinda wanted to punch him. “Do we have an actual plan on how to get out of Tartarus?”
> 
> Nico hummed. “Nope.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so uh maybe wednesday update days? my school is in person (except for quarantines obviously) but were doing virtual on wednesdays with no google meets so i'm able to finish really early when my brain decides to focus. i'm so sorry, my brain is not computing much these days as i'm trying to get back into school and I keep spacing out or forgetting things so uh not the best to remember when update. i was also mega busy this weekend, including helping a friend move. (we had to take apart a bunk bed and put it back together. When we finished, there were 4 pegs extra that we definitely took out of the beds. oops.) 
> 
> anyway, enough about me. Quest group!! Again, not a lot of action, sorry, but uh if you can't tell, next chapter definitely will. I don't know exactly when I'll the drop the nico-nico-will pattern of posting but we'll see. hopefully you guys enjoy!

“So…” Cecil’s voice was absurdly loud in the Hades cabin and Nico kinda wanted to punch him. But then, whenever Will returned, he would definitely hear about it and that would definitely leave Nico on the side of being chewed out by his boyfriend so somehow he refrained and continued double checking what he had packed. “Do we have an actual plan on how to get out of Tartarus?”

“Nope.” Nico contemplated if he had enough room for three shirts in his backpack before switching one out for a tank top. He’d be lucky if at least one shirt wasn’t torn to shreds on the quest anyway. 

“That's it? We just jump down into Tartarus with no way to get Will out safely?” Nico’s brain vaguely registered Cecil's tone as something he probably should've paid attention to, but he ignored it in favor of going over his checklist for packing items once more and replacing the sticky note that fluttered off his bedside table. 

“Do we even have a plan to get _in_ Tartarus?” Lou Ellen butted in. Nico didn't really know when she got there, but then again, he never really registered a lot right before a quest. He was much better in the moment and on the actual quest. 

“I mean, I would say we just go and jump right in but my Father banned everyone from entering Tartarus so we’ll have to find another route.” Nico weighed his options silently before settling for the fact that Will would actually kill him if he didn’t take a toothbrush and toothpaste. 

“Dude, what the hell?” Lou Ellen and Cecil said in such unison that it would be terrifying if he hadn't heard it a million times before. Will appropriately surrounded himself with dramatic friends, not the Nico was included with that. (He was)

Still, Nico sensed there had to be some context clues he was missing so he turned towards the obviously distressed pair. If he was going to go into Tartarus with the two of them, it was probably better to clear the air before they left. “What?” Well. At least he didn’t brush them off fully?

They both looked (somehow) even more bewildered by the question, sharing a look before Cecil spoke up once more. “Dude, you don't find it concerning that we are maybe a couple hours away from departing on a quest to save Will from Tartarus and we don't have any way to get down to Tartarus in the first place, or any clue on how to escape it? Not even a little?” Cecil's gestures got wilder the longer he talked and, okay, _maybe_ Nico should’ve explained his thinking better. 

He sighed. Why did human interaction have to be so tough? He had mastered sparring with the duo, easily beating any 3 person match the camp set their way. Sparring was easy, any communication was either subtle or shouting and it was all straight to the point. When Will was there, gods, he had the ability to soothe any sort of tension between anyone. Will more than made up for Nico’s lack of commentary and Nico actually found it fun to hang as a group of four. 

But communicating alone with the other two? It seemed like an impossible task, but Nico couldn't avoid it. Will needed help. And, as Will would put it, he needed to work on his teamwork skills. 

Nico sighed once more. He needed to get this over with. “Getting into the Underworld is easy, we just need to get to the DOA record company and from there I can almost guarantee there will be a way to sneak into Tartarus. We don’t need to worry about getting out of Tartarus currently. We could plan and speculate as much as we want, but we’ll never know what’s going to happen until after we meet with Will. You’re familiar with the three fates right?” He paused quickly for their nods before continuing. “Well, as far as I’m aware, the Underworld… strays less from the fates then the Overworld. Like… ugh” Nico bowed his head frustrated. Why couldn’t they just be children of Hades? That would be so much easier than explaining. 

“Like…?” Lou Ellen prompted. 

“Like.. think of a tether ball. The farther away from the pole, the more directions and places that ball can reach and it kind of… strains the string right? In the overworld, away from the fates, fate itself is easier to change because it’s away from its source. It strains the range of the fates control. The distance from the fates allows small cheats in prophecies to happen, or in mortal terms miracles. Eventually these things are fixed, when the delay catches up with the fates, but that distance allows it to happen in the first place. Does that make… some sort of sense?” 

To their credit, both Lou Ellen and Cecil seemed to be grasping onto the idea much easier than anyone else he ever told. He wondered if it was because their godly parents were also associated with the Underworld. 

“Wait so,” Cecil started, “When we’re in the Underworld, things will just go the way they’re supposed to with no interruptions?”

Nico grimaced. “Not exactly. Even when the tether ball is closest to the pole, it still has options on where exactly to go. Such is the case in the Underworld. There will still be obstacles and things won't be as straightforward as everyone would prefer. But it will be a lot more straightforward than your average quest. The fates will be eager to key in the next prophecy, as they always are. It’s not like the answer will be directly in our face, but we’ll almost definitely be guided in some way if we can pay attention to the clues.”

“So, this shouldn’t be as bad as we’re expecting?” Lou Ellen seemed somewhat apprehensive to ask, and Nico was even more so to answer. 

“As far as straightforwardness, sure. We’re still entering into Tartarus though.” Nico made a face, debating on the best way to word his thoughts in such a way that he didn’t lose his questing partners. “Tartarus… is not something that can be described. It’s different for everyone yet also the same. You two will likely be seeing a purer version of it then Annabeth and Percy, though not as clear as mine, as far as godly parents are concerned. It’s not something you can prepare yourself for, no matter how much you bring or how much you try to block out. It will worm inside your brain and refuse to leave until you just want the pain to stop but it never does. That is what you're getting yourselves into. This will not be an easy quest, and it very well might be your last.” 

Nico held his breath as his eyes darted between the two. _Congratulations_ , the voice in his head whispered, _you’ve scared away your partners and left yourself stranded for the most important quest you’ve faced_.

“Will…” Lou Ellen started, “Will’s dealing with that _right now_? By himself?” Her voice was low and monotone. 

Nico only nodded. 

Cecil and Lou Ellen shared a look. “When do we leave again?” Cecil asked.

~

“Nico! Wait!” Nico turned around, spotting Jason sprinting up the hill. Nico was waiting by himself while Cecil and Lou Ellen got the medical supplies from Kayla. He shuddered mentally at the reminder of the time he had to spend in the infirmary in the week leading up to the departure to review medical knowledge. The place felt too… _cold_ without Will there.

Jason managed to make it to the top of the hill by the time Nico got his thoughts collected. He peered curiously at the bag Jaosn was holding; Jason was well aware that Nico preferred to pack his own bag. 

“How did all three questers completely miss the spectacle that was Apollo descending on camp?” Nico felt his heart drop. “Seriously, you guys picked the worst time to disappear. Though it wasn’t like Apollo gave much information other than another goddess did it, which was kinda a given with the prophecy.” Nico’s heart slowed its raced just slightly, though he still eyed the bag. 

Jason’s gaze followed his and he somehow managed to perk up even more. “Oh yeah!” He thrust the bag towards Nico, who gingerly took it, as if it were a bomb. “He said to give this to the questers, which you are one. Apparently some of the gods put together some things to help you? I don't know man, Apollo was much more excited about talking about something like the sun getting revenge or having more to it than meets the eye, I don't really know.”

Nico nodded absentmindedly, carefully shifting the bag around in his hands. 

“Better check that for a masterbolt.”

Nico jumped as he swiveled around and faced Percy. He must've been really out of it to not notice him coming up the hill. 

“What? All I’m saying is that it's better to go through the entirety of the random backpacks that gods give you then be sorry, based off of personal experience.” Nico scowled and shoved Percy but made a mental note to check it over with Cecil and Lou Ellen later. Maybe the daughter of Hecate could detect if any evil auras were attached to whatever the gods could have given them. 

“Hey, did you guys really start a going away party with only ⅓ of the questers? Rude!” Lou Ellen's voice carried up the hill. Nico could see that Cecil was holding a plain black briefcase that presumably held all of their medical supplies. Nico was less concerned at why they would pack it in a briefcase and more relieved that Cabin 7 had given them something that wasn’t flashy. 

More small talk was exchanged as more people gathered around the hill. Nico politely smiled throughout it all, periodically scanning the crowd for the centaur that would send them off. Eventually Nico heard the tell tale clomping of Chiron and his brain seemed to immediately go into overtime. 

He didn’t hear a word of the absent condolences Chiron said, instead focusing on the barely seen barrier. The quest was about to start. The quest to save _Will_ was about to start. And Nico couldn’t afford any slip ups. 

He was only distantly aware of the cheering, of the too tight hugs he received from Jason and Percy. Then, his eyes were meeting with Lou Ellen and Cecil and they began to walk.

~

And so they walked.

~

And walked.

~

And they were only twenty minutes into walking before Cecil had them stopping. 

“So, all I’m saying is-”

Unfortunately for Cecil, the monster behind him butted in before he could finish his thoughts. 

And so had their quest begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i uhhhhh swear im not evil? If you were looking for action, I'm sorry but it will definitely for sure exist next chapter. I kinda got carried away with the fates thing and I also wrote this all the night that I'm posting so... oops.
> 
> as always, thank you guys so much for the kudos and comments, you have no idea how happy I get when i get an email saying that someone commented or left kudos, i always open them right away. take care, I love y'all!

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave all the comments and kudos you want! They really inspire me to continue writing :)
> 
> Also! come yell at me on tumblr @solace-seekers


End file.
